Friday 9 April 2021

The five faces of a human being fully alive

 Listen to the podcast version of this post 

Each Friday's podcasts are always under 10 minutes.

This is episode 103.

I'm excited about many things in life. High on my list is the increase in the number of people who are spiritually alive, emotionally healthy, mentally alert, physically active, and universally aware.

I call these the five faces of a human being fully alive.

One piece of advice that my father gave me as a boy has stayed with me. To live a good life he suggested “be spiritually alive, mentally alert and physically active.”

Over time I added emotionally healthy and universally aware to Dad’s three.

Each of the five faces are foundational to wise leadership. We need them all in harmony with one another in order to bring our true and best selves to the world.

Most people in my view confuse the rules of religion, the do’s and don’ts, the dogma and doctrines, with actually living the truth, which it seems to me is loving one another and living in harmony with one another, regardless of what your religion is.

As Dr David R. Hawkins says “Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others."

Emotional intelligence is lacking in many male leaders today. I suspect this is to do with the fact that most men are challenged to lead with and from their hearts.

Mindset is still a widely referenced concept particularly due to the work of Carol Dweck who talks about having a growth mindset not a fixed mindset.

A lot of the trouble in our world comes from leaders with fixed mindsets. These folk believe that their way is the only way. It takes great skill to have a flexible rather than fixed mindset. Being flexible means that we can believe whatever we wish yet still reach a shared-view about what’s next even with people who have different beliefs.

Being spiritually alive, emotionally healthy and mentally alert makes flow possible. Of course being in flow is essential for achieving our best.

From flow and collaborating with others we become more universally aware meaning that we are able to operate from what my friend, colleague and wonderful educator Glenn Capelli calls SOG Esteem i.e. self esteem, others esteem and global esteem.

How could you become more spiritually alive, emotionally healthy, mentally alert, physically active and universally aware?

Here's some more insights for your consideration.

Become the wise leader you want to be.

Ian

No comments: